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When Aidan Became a Brother
Following the news that he’s going to become a big brother, Aidan helps his parents choose baby clothing, paint the nursery, and consider names. Aidan doesn’t like when people ask if his mom is having a boy or a girl because when Aidan was born, everyone thought he was a girl. As Aidan got bigger, he knew he wasn’t. “It was hard to tell his parents … but it was harder not to.” When he’s worried about being a good big brother, his mom reminds him that they didn’t know everything when Aidan was born, but he helped them learn. “You taught us how important it is to love someone for exactly who they are.” Aidan is mixed race (his mom looks Black, his dad Asian) in art full of playfulness (the clothing patterns!) and abundant warmth. Buoyant illustrations show Aidan’s clothing choices range from dinosaur t-shirts to bowties, baseball hat to head wrap, shorts to frilly pinafore, in a story beautifully affirming gender identity as a matter of internal understanding and self-knowledge rather than an assignment based on physical appearance, and gender expression as open and expansive rather than culturally proscribed. ©2020 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Illustrated by Kaylani Juanita
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 4-8
Age Range:
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format:
Picture book
Subjects:
Affirmation
Anxiety
Babies
Families
LGBTQ+ Persons
Transgender People
Diversity subjects:
Black/African
Brown Skin Unspecified
LGBTQ Character/Topic
Publisher:
Lee & Low
Publish Year: 2019
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781620148372
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Lukoff
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